


Swans and Stardust

by ohmissyyousofineee



Series: Original Works [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abduction, Aliens, Alternate 1947, Alternate 2017, Alternate Universe, Ballet, Gen, London, Mystery, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parallel Universes, Recreational Drug Use, Swearing, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2018-11-28 09:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11415252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmissyyousofineee/pseuds/ohmissyyousofineee
Summary: On the night of her ballet performance 18 year old Casey falls into a portal taking her to an alternate 1947 London, England. There she has to endure an authoritarian group called "The Givers" hired by the government to supply the people with basic necessities. Except, they brainwash the population in the process.18 year old Max, Casey’s twin sister goes on a camping trip. After spotting a UFO in the woods, she runs off and promptly disappears ending up in an alternate 2017 called The States of America where the world is ruled by one angry orange man and guards in gas masks apart of a group called The Givers forcing the countries to succumb to his power that will destroy everything.Can both girls return to the present before it's too late?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am sorry that I keep posting trash. This is dedicated to Max because I love you to death, you're seriously the bestest friend in the entire universe. I love you I love you I love you!!!! Enjoy!!! xx-E (I'm sorry for punctuation and grammar as always).

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

 

London, England 2017 (Present)

Thunderous applause filled her ears while she curtsied. Casey felt a flower hit the toe of her pointe shoe as she continued smiling. 

Casey rose and went to her spot on the stage to take her final bows with the rest of the performers. It was London’s Royal Opera House opening performance of Swan Lake, and Casey was thrilled to be playing Odette the Swan Princess. 

Casey was also playing Odile, in the story Odile and Odette looked so much alike that they were mistaken for each other.

She was the Royal Ballet’s most principal dancer, her toes bled, her feet were calloused and her muscles were always sore but all in all she decided a little pain for fifteen seconds of fame was worth it. Exiting the stage she nearly fell over as she was bombarded with hugs from the cast.

“Good job Case!” 

“You looked fantastic!’

“Sensational, Casey!”

Casey felt slightly overwhelmed, she pushed through to the dressing room looking forward to having a nice glass of Coca-Cola, a large truffle pizza and scrubbing every last bit of makeup off her face. 

Casey’s twin sister Miranda walked in moments later and handed over her iPhone and a bag of flaming hot Cheetos.

“I am so thankful that you exist.” Casey said, throwing her arms around Max.

“You were wonderful, you looked like royalty.”

“Don’t tell the actual Queen that Maxy.” The sisters shared glances and giggled. “Would you mind helping me out of this?” Casey gestured to her white tutu and looked down at her brand new pale pink pointe shoes. 

Max got to work unhooking Casey out of her tutu, while Casey untied the tight knots on her shoes, ribbons running through her fingers like silk.

After changing back into her Royal Ballet sweatpants and sweatshirt, Casey hooked arms with Max so they could go hang up her costume and greet their parents. Cheers of praise continued to follow Casey as she spotted her Mother, Father and Grandma Elaine by the exit.

Casey gave her Grandmother a hug and her mom presented her with a bouquet of roses. Both her Grandmother and Father gave her words of congratulations and praise. 

“You were sensational Casey, darling! Now where do you want to go to dinner?”

Casey and Max glanced at each other both thinking the same thing. Casey named off her favorite Italian restaurant, located in the Mayfair area, which had mouth watering truffle pizza and rich red wine to die for.

They took a cab to the bustling restaurant, engulfed with people, the group was led down a spiral staircase to the downstairs area. Casey closed her eyes and inhaled smelling warm oven baked flatbread, and smooth truffle oil.

Talk about the performance began once more.

“I feel like I stumbled a bit on my fouette turns,” Casey stated. The family looked at her with their mouths gaped open like fish.

“That is nonsense Casey, absolute nonsense! You were wonderful, your dancing was magical.” Grandma Elaine exclaimed, her bright blue eyes lit up. The rest nodded in agreement. 

Casey smiled to herself and ripped a piece of freshly baked bread, smothering it in olive oil and parmesan cheese. Fresh olive oil and cheese overcame Casey’s tastebuds, she closed her eyes with euphoria. 

After dinner and her chocolate mousse dessert, Casey’s stomach ached. Max grinned from ear to ear as they passed one of their favorite clubs, which of course was bouncing with music and sweaty bodies pressed together. 

“We need to hit up the club one of these days Case,” Max gestured over to it.

“Of course. When I’m done with my shows we can go.” Max nodded in agreement. Upon clambering into the cab Casey passed out from exhaustion, dreaming of dark clouds and red flags. 

 

The next morning was chaotic to say the least. Right when she woke up, Casey could not find her pointe shoes, ballet slippers and makeup bag as she had taken out her brushes to clean them. 

“Max? Have you seen my pointe shoes and makeup bag?” she called out in her twins’ room.

“Yep, they’re right here,” she held up her blue bag for her ballet shoes and her rose gold makeup bag. “Mum left it by door since you were so tired, I held onto it for you.”

“Thanks Max!” Casey gave her a hug and grabbed her stuff, looking at her phone which said it was already 7 o’clock. “Bugger! I have to be there in an hour!” she scratched her bleach blond hair and ran off to the bathroom, nearly knocking over Grandma Elaine in the process.

Casey applied a heavy layer of Urban Decay foundation and concealer, Maybelline powder, blush, eyeliner and mascara. Ultimately, she decided to let Max or her best friend Maeve apply her lipstick before she went on stage for the 2 o’clock show.

Grabbing a brush, bobby pins, hairspray, and a hairnet she set to work combing her mangled up mid length, bleach blonde hair from the night previous. Finally, she was able to tie it up into a high pointy tail and braid it into a tight and secure bun. 

She ran back to her room and threw her shoes and makeup bag into her ballet bag, then grabbing her nude leotard and a pair of tights to finish getting ready. Covering up in her sweat pants and sweatshirt she deemed herself ready to go. 

“Max! Let’s go!” she called from outside the door to their flat.

“Coming!”

With that Casey ran down the stairs as fast as she could, with Max joining her moments later. When they arrived at the studio, with a minute to spare at that, Casey threw her bag down in the dressing and quickly yanked on her slippers so she could go to warm ups and stretching class.

“Bloody hell Casey, you really cut it this time,” Christine her frenemy and understudy for Princess Odette snickered. Christine gave her a once over and threw her leg up against the wall for a split. Casey looked around for her best friend Maeve and prayed that Christine would break her leg or fall over.

To her avail neither of those things occurred and Maeve walked in a moment later flushed and breathless, she was the one barely cutting it. 

Casey walked up and kneeled down beside her friend who was putting on her own ballet slippers.

“Maeve, if Sergey had been here I can guarantee Gretchen would’ve attempted to steal your part,” she whispered. Maeve was playing the Queen Mother and other characters.

Gretchen was Christine’s best friend, Maeve's understudy, and by far one of the worst dancers of the company.

“Casey, how do you not let it get to you?”

“I pretend a lot of shit doesn’t get to me. Christine was over there complaining how I walked in late, she kicked up her leg against the wall. I simply willed her to fall over.” At that, Maeve giggled which turned into a laugh. Suddenly, loud footsteps echoed in the studio. Sergey had arrived.

“Ok ladies!” he bellowed in a heavy Russian accent. “We are doing a regular warm up, plie, pique, ronde de jambe, grande j'te, saute, you know the drill now move it!”

The girl’s quickly moved over to the barre area and the pianist, Maria, began to play. They moved through warm ups quickly, and before she knew it they were onto exercises on pointe. 

An hour and a half later they went onto the stretching portion of the class. Casey could feel every last muscle crack and pop as she slid down into a split. 

Thankfully, Sergey didn’t come to push her hips even more square than they were, but he went over to lift up Christine’s leg. Casey saw her wince slightly in pain and she and Maeve both shared a slight grin of satisfaction. 

During a fifteen minute break after class, Casey felt her stomach flutter with butterflies, she had to go rehearse and clean up some of her movements with her male partner Alfie. 

Alfie played Odette’s lover Prince Siegfried. He was slightly an asshole, his palms were always sweaty which bothered her a bit, she had also never seen him smile.

Casey drank some water and powdered her sweaty face in the bathroom before returning to the studio.

Galina, Sergey’s wife was there speaking with Maria the pianist with a heavy Russian accent, while Alfie stretched out. Casey in the meantime laced up her pointe shoes. Galina turned around to face the duo.

“Now Alfie, we need to work on the fish dives both low and when Casey does an arabesque. You also need to hold her much lighter when she does her finger turns hold her much tighter than you did last night and she won’t be able to move.” 

Galina smiled at Casey, she absolutely adored her, almost like a daughter. Galina was never able to conceive children, so she treated her favorites in the company as her own. 

Casey and Alfie practiced the movements Galina had mentioned at least thirty times before they did a run through of the more complicated scenes. 

After what felt like the millionth time practicing, Casey saw Galina smile so big her teeth were showing. Galina clapped and did a slight jump. 

Casey was taken aback as it was unusual for such a reserved woman to do something so excitedly.

“Yes! That is it! Hold her exactly like that Alfie!” Casey let out a sigh, thankful that they had finally mastered the pas de deux, she looked up at the clock and saw there were thirty minutes till call time. 

Casey gestured towards the door and Galina gave her a nod. Casey ran as fast as she could in her pointe shoes towards the dressing room. Outside the dressing room Max stood with Casey’s ballet bag and bag with her costume.

“Common sister you have a show to do!” Max declared grabbing Casey’s hand so they could go finish her hair, makeup and put her costume on. 

Max set in the last of her hair decorations, Maeve helped finish off touching up her eyeshadow, and Galina came over to help tie her shoes as tight as possible. 

Casey rose up and made sure her white tutu was set before heading over to backstage.

 

The symphony began to play, the stage was dark as Casey did a polonaise step out onto it pausing towards the center and taking her position.

Soon, the pas de quatre dance with the four swans came up and she was reunited with Maeve. This was both of their favorite dances in the show. 

Casey ran backstage to do a quick change into her black leotard for the pas de deux with Alfie. She couldn’t deny her nervousness. Max rushed her over to help her change and gave her a push to go back towards the stage area.

All of the sudden Casey was sidetracked by a bright light coming to the left of backstage. It can’t be she thought all of the lights are supposed to be off, she wondered if the audience could see the light. 

Casey walked towards it, her curiosity was piqued. She was about to turn around, since her queue to return to the stage had begun, when all of the sudden a force pulled her. 

Casey tripped and reached her right arm out, she could only feel herself falling.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max begins to come to terms with Casey's disappearance, but not before Christine bothers her about it.

Something was wrong. Max could hear muttering all around the backstage area. She pushed her way through the throngs of people. It usually wasn’t this noisy, nor was it ever this crowded backstage. 

“Can you guys clear out a bit? This is a slight fire hazard.” Max stated to a group of dancers in swan costumes. 

“They can’t find Casey.” One of the swans said.

“Well where is she?” the swan simply shrugged. Maeve ran up to Max looking panicked.

“Where the hell is Casey? Her cue for the pas de deux was just now and she hasn’t come onto the stage. Alfie was just standing there. Galina had to come out and tell the audience to take an intermission!” Maeve was exasperated and talking very fast.

“Okay Maeve, calm down. She has to be here somewhere.”

“I can’t calm down!” Maeve cried out, her pale marble skin turned as red as her copper hair. “Christine needs to get her arse out there and perform the pas de deux. Speaking of which where the fuck is Christine?”

“How about this, you go find Christine and tell her that Casey is missing and she needs to tell Galina that she’ll be taking over. I’ll go try to figure out where Casey went.”

It wasn’t that easy. Max was unable to find Casey. Nobody had seen her. Christine had to perform for her, in the end it wasn’t nearly as good.

 

2 Weeks Later

Max was numb. She buttered her English muffin and took a sip of tea. It was piping hot, she welcomed the burn as it slid down her throat. She didn’t wince.

Casey had been listed as a missing person. There was no evidence to suggest that she had gone missing in the first place. She had simply just disappeared. 

Grandma Elaine was distraught, she had been a dancer in her youth and loved to watch Casey dominate the stage with grace, elegance and poise. Max’s parents were both very sad but continued to go on with work and their lives. 

The family became sad whenever they passed a poster with Casey’s face on it and “The Royal Opera House Presents: Swan Lake,” written in fancy cursive scrawl. 

Yet, Max had a feeling deep within the pit of stomach that Casey was not gone for good and would soon return. Max didn’t share this with anyone, including the police. 

“Bye Mum, Dad, Grandma!” she yelled grabbing her checkered backpack, and umbrella, then leaving the flat.

Rain fell in fat, cold, wet droplets on her shoulder length, wavy, dark blue grey hair. Max sighed in the tube line on the way to school, she got pushed around by commuters. It made her miss Casey even more. 

Having to stand up on the train, Max pulled out her phone. There was a headline from the Daily Mail. “IS THIS THE ROYAL BALLET’S MISSING ‘SWAN LAKE’ STAR? NEW PHOTOGRAPHS EMERGE.” Seeing this tabloid treating her sister's’ disappearance as a hoax made her feel even more distraught.

Max pushed the bile rising in her throat aside and clicked on the headline. She skimmed through the words on the screen and moved down to the photos. It really was just one photo with zoomed into different points on the picture.

The photo was old and grainy, showing a young woman in a black tutu looking helplessly lost. It seemed as though she did not realize she was getting her picture taken.

Max closed out of the article and pushed her way to get off the train. She opened her Beatles umbrella from her backpack and walked the rest of the way to her high school. 

The whispers came in overwhelming numbers. They flowed through her ears like dust particles and smoke. Christine was surrounded by a gaggle of girls, when they saw Max they purposely started speaking much louder. 

“Oh look who it is; Casey’s weirdo twin Miranda.” Christine flashed a hideous, purple bedazzled iPhone screen at her, showing the photo from the Daily Mail. “Thanks to Casey’s uncanny ‘disappearance’ not only did I get the lead role in Swan Lake, but I also managed to come up with a little theory.” She pushed her wispy chocolate brown ringlets away from her pink, round face.

“What would that theory be?” Max asked quietly.

“Your sister, faked her disappearance.” Christine let out a loud laugh and waved her faux tanned hands around as to show a point. “Why else would she be in her black tutu in the middle of London? She simply couldn’t handle being Swan Princess knowing that I’m a much better dancer than her.”

Max was numb, feeling absolutely nothing. All she knew in that moment is that she wanted to punch Christine and beat her up. Maybe, Max thought she took Casey away from me. And with that she loaded up her hand ready to strike, another hand grabbed her wrist tightly holding it in place.

Maeve looked at her solemnly and nodded her head.

“Don’t do this,” she said. “It’s not worth it Max, really, Casey will come back.” Max lowered her hand and walked away at a brisk pace.

Maeve caught up to her. “Max wait!” she was out of breath by the time she caught up to the blue haired girl. Maeve pushed her two long braids over her shoulders. “I hate to say this, but Christine may be onto something with this photo, even if it is from the Daily Mail.”

Max only sighed in exasperation. “I need to go to class Maeve, we can talk later ok? Take the tube home with me.”

Going through the rest of the day was a lot less difficult than the morning had been, yet the teachers continued to throw her endless looks of pity. By the end of the day Max was slightly fed up and hungry, she really wanted a warm cup of tea.

Maeve joined her, wrapping an arm around her waist and giving a slight squeeze. They didn’t talk on the tube ride home, walked through Green Park, bypassed their flats and ended up sitting on a stone wall, Buckingham Palace could be seen in the distance. The flag was down signifying that the Queen was not in residence.

They both sat munching on hot chips and sipping tea from to-go cups.

Max pulled up the picture on her phone. “I think that this is Casey,” she gnawed at her bottom lip. “I don’t know why, maybe it’s just instinct but I have a feeling she’s in trouble.”

“I believe you,” Maeve admitted. “I know that twins have telepathic powers, I know you can sense when something is wrong.”

Max nodded and stood up pushing crumbs off her navy trench coat and blue skinny jeans.  
“I think I need to get away for a little while. We should go camping.”

“Camping? Why camping?” Maeve asked.

“I just have a feeling.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey wakes up in an alternate 1947 London, England.

London, England 1947

“What in the hell is that thing?”

“Is it a bird?”

“Is it even human?”

“Common Jerry kill it!”

“Yeah kill it!”

Casey heard voices, the words were fuzzy, she squeezed her eyes shut even more. When she opened them everything was blurry and moved up and down in waves. A man was pointing a rifle at her. 

Casey attempted to sit up, groaning and rubbing her head.

“Please don’t shoot me,” she managed to grunt out. Looking down at what she was wearing she realized why the people might have been freaked out. Her black tutu was ruffled up and her pointe shoes were covered in mud. 

A clock chimed loudly, the people gave Casey one last look over, a few gasps filled the crowd. The man named Jerry holding the gun spat on her before turning on his heel. A young boy came up and took a photo of her. The light further agitated her throbbing head, the boy ran off.

Casey rolled on her side and looked around, her vision slowly clearing up. She was in an alley of sorts, the ground was cobblestone, it was very wet. There was nobody to be seen, she shivered as a soft misty rain started.

Casey slowly got up, her feet ached in her pointe shoes, she couldn’t remember how she got outside the auditorium. This is very strange she thought, neither Maeve nor Max have come to get me, I must be dreaming. 

Walking around, Casey knew that she was in London, she peeked around the corner of the alleyway. The streets were dead silent, not a single soul to be seen, a rumble of thunder filled the air. The clock from before continued to chime, except it seemed louder. 

Casey looked up at the dark sky, just as she noticed a British flag with the Nazi symbol on it a crack of lightning filled the sky. Casey began to breathe heavily, this is very not good, she thought. 

The dark black sky was filled with stars but no moon, Casey eased around the corner slowly, she was startled back into the alley when she saw two monstrous tanks roll down the street.

This is not 2017, where in the bloody hell am I? She thought urgently. Thanks were given profusely to her lucky stars when she spied a small shop, it looked almost like a resale one, it was closed.

Casey coughed as dust filled the air when she opened the heavy wooden door.

“Hullo?!” she called out quietly. Nobody responded but the pattern and squeaking of mice around the stores’ area. Casey squatted down and untied her pointe shoes, she reached behind herself and unhooked her costume, shimmying out of it.

On a rack lay dirty navy blue overalls and a rumpled up blouse, a bright red bandana and black boots were nearby. Figuring it would have to do, she changed into the clothes. 

They were comfortable, better than the ballet costume. The ballet articles ended up in a dark corner which she ended up covering with a tapestry. In case I ever get out of whatever this is, she thought and with that her stomach growled loudly. 

“Oh hush up you,” she mumbled to her stomach. Casey was beginning to find it very lonely without her twin or Maeve to talk to. 

Casey went back out the front of the store, looking both ways before darting down the cobblestone street. 

“Oof!” Casey felt the cold cobblestone under her as she fell hard.

“Watch where you’re going miss!” Casey could’ve sworn she saw a flash of red hair, she squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them.

“Maeve? Maeve? Is that you? Please tell me it’s you, you-you-you gotta help me.” The red haired girl turned around.

“I-I’m sorry miss I can’t help you I really have to go.” The girl began to run off, her hair looked like fire as it flowed behind her.

“What is your name?” Casey called out

The girl turned around sharply, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she walked closer. Casey felt an ice cold palm cup her cheek, the girl's’ skin was pale as ice, her eyes were cobalt blue, so blue they looked fake.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Casey asked.

“I have to make sure you’re real before I tell you my name.”

“What?” a bell sounded off in the distance, the girl gasped and dropped her hand from Casey’s face. “Why can’t you tell me your name?”

“We will meet again! There is a strict curfew around here. Promise you will get off the streets, or they will find you.” And with a graceful twirl of her flowered skirt, fire red hair and cobalt blue eyes, the girl who resembled Maeve was off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max goes on a camping trip with her friends, has a failed conversation with Chai, and gets abducted by aliens. (Recreational drug use in this chapter towards the end).

London, England 2017

They ended up at Blackberry Wood Campsite outside of Brighton. Max, Maeve, Audrey, Chai, Bernard, Clementine, Jordan, Evan, Bear, Hershel and Terry. It was quite a large group. 

If Max played her cards right she was hoping to end up with Chai in one of the tents which was stretching the realm of possibilities. That was if she could even work up the courage to talk to her.

Evan and Terry were the ‘couple,’ they were all over each other and snogged (which was more like sucking each others’ faces) as though it was the end of the world. Max didn’t mind it so much. 

Evan was a gorgeous woman, she had short dyed orangey-red hair and the most beautiful personality. Terry was attractive, tall with curly brown hair, he was awkward and sweet. For some unknown reason everyone loved Terry. And for every reason imaginable everyone loved Evan. Both were out of college and hoping to get married fairly soon. 

Hershel was everyone's best friend, Max adored talking to him, he made her laugh until tears streamed down her face and she had to clutch her stomach to even breath. In life he aspired to be a comedian, not a single person had a doubt that he couldn't make it. 

Now someone who Max minded was Chai's boyfriend Bear, mainly because she was jealous.

Max liked to think of herself as someone who oozed mega confidence around the people she liked, except she hadn’t truly ‘liked’ someone since she was twelve. 

Despite Chai being two years older than her, whenever Max was around Chai, she felt at a loss for words, she got flustered and stumbled around what she was going to say. As cheesy as it sounded, Chai had stunning ocean blue eyes, a curvy figure and a raspy voice. It was enough to make anyone with a heart swoon.

In the end it was alright, Chai smiled at her more often than anyone else, especially Bear. Max noticed the glassy and distant look in her eyes and hunched shoulders whenever he was around. Maeve always made sure to remind Max ‘never fall for the straight ones, it’s not worth it, they’ll always break your heart the worst.’ 

But of course Max’s heart wanted to take a different rockier path and always fell for the beautiful ‘straight’ girls already in relationships. For someone who believed in spirituality and fate, sometimes Max wished that the signs could be slightly more obvious. 

The crew, or as Jordan liked to call them; ‘the gang’ sat around a fire pit and roasted marshmallows, burgers, (veggie burgers for Audrey), and hotdogs. 

“Look what I’ve got.” Clementine announced after everyone had filled up on the food. There was a fat blunt held between her skinny fingers and a giant smirk spread across her face. 

Chai was the first one up, Bear gave her a dirty glare, she simply shrugged, sat back down, tightened her high ponytail, adjusted her purple and black patterned flannel and continued to look bored as she picked at a hotdog bun. 

A small smile spread across Max’s face, she looked up in a failed attempt to make eye contact with Chai, who just so happened to be sitting near her. Bear was on one side and Bernard was on the other.

“So…” Max started awkwardly, staring down at her lap, twiddling and twisting her sweaty hands. “How’s the hotdog?” to her dismay she got neither a reply or any acknowledgement that she had said anything in the first place. Chai simply continued on her conversation with Bernard. They were talking about something that had to do with tattoos. It was all very cringe worthy to say the least. 

Finally after what seemed like all of eternity had passed Chai looked Max’s way and gave her a big smile with all of her teeth showing. When Max made eye contact with her she asked once again: “How’s the hotdog?”

“Oh haha yeah...It’s good...It’s really good...Jordan did a nice job with them.” Max gave a weak chuckle, slapped her thighs and got up as Chai continued her conversation with Jordan as if nothing had happened. 

“Hey Clem! I’m going to need quite a bit of that.” Max blew air through her mouth, got up and quickly walked over to Clementine, Jordan, Bernard, Evan, Terry and Audrey. Max looked up towards Chai who was huddled close to Bear, their voices sounded hushed and tense. Chai was hunched over and stiff she flinched when Bear put his hand on the small of her back.

Max looked away in defiance to her own brain and heart fuck this, fuck love, fuck straight girls she thought I’ll just be fucking lonely for the rest of my life, it is what it is. Clementine waved her and some of the others’ towards a more forested area, she pulled out a lighter and sparked the blunt. Max could imagine the smoke filling her lungs and suffocating her.

Max took four hits in a row, the pot was strong. She was stoned through every fiber of her being, her brain was as numb as her heart. Better than thinking about stupid stupid perfect beautiful Chai god dammit. Max tugged on her hair and rubbed her hand down her face dramatically smearing her eye makeup in the process. 

“You look like you need it doll.” Clementine had encouraged sympathetically, flipping her two long, dark brown french braids over her shoulders before passing the blunt off to Evan. 

When they finished smoking Max felt mellow, relaxed and more than sleepy. The trees and shadows moved in the night, the ground felt as though it was tilted. 

The thumping of her heart and the loud chirps of crickets filled her ears. After getting up Max stumbled through the woods tripping over a twig or branch every so often.

“Bloody mother fucking hell,” she quietly swore. A bright pass of light filled her vision, she brought her hand up against her forehead to shield her eyes against it. “What in the-” The cylinder shaped ship of sorts was flying directly over her head. Leaves and twigs blew all around her,

Looking all around her she called out; “Clem! Audrey, Maeve are you seeing this shit?” she received no response and looked back up at the bright white light above. “Who-or what are you? What do you want?” 

Max looked so far up that she fell back, her limbs felt heavy and glued in place on the ground. Simply put, she was unable to get up. Covering her face with both arms she screamed.

“Put. Me. Down. I insist upon it! I am in no state to be taken upon your ship!” her kidnappers didn’t comply. She felt herself getting lifted off the ground, becoming drowsier and drowsier until the bright white light had disappeared completely.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chai reveals important news to Maeve. Maeve tries to find Max.

Interlude

Sometime after Max had gone off with Clementine to smoke, Maeve had made her way over to the camp to talk to Jordan and Audrey.

Unexpectedly, Chai had come up to her for the first time sans Bear. 

“Hey,” Chai said to Maeve her voice was smooth and cool, she lit up a cigarette and pushed her high, almond brown ponytail out of the way.

“Hi?”

“Listen,” Chai took a long hit of the cigarette, letting the smoke fill her lungs. “Your friend Max is pretty cute, if you don’t mind being the messenger...I’d like to talk to her more. It’s hard because my ‘boyfriend’ Bear...he’s...protective to say the least.” 

Chai took another drag of the cigarette and laughed softly looking at Maeve, her bright eyes twinkled.

“Yeah-h no problem I’ll tell her right now!”

“Max?! Maaaaaxxxx? I have good news for you!” Maeve ran through the woods, her heart thumped loudly pumping adrenaline. She breathed heavily (more like wheezed) through her excitement. Galina’s voice echoed in her head.

“Sweet Maeve, ballerinas are not runners.” Shaking off the thought of her sore legs and burning lungs she continued to run as fast as she could. 

“Max? Max?? Where are you? You won’t believe who talked to me!” Maeve continued to search, it was beginning to get dark. “Before you roll your eyes and call out ‘Jordan’ just know it wasn’t him. Yeah man it was Chai, Bear wasn’t there or anything so I think she really likes you."

“I thought you’d be excited common out. Don’t be scared of her, she’s too pretty for you to be scared of, or maybe that’s why you’re scared. If it makes you feel any better I’ll take you back to where she is and help you guide the conversation.”

Eventually Maeve’s aimless wandering led her to the end of the camp area. She sprinted back through calling Max’s name, and began to panic. Suddenly she bumped into Audrey.

“Maeve? What’s wrong? You’re all sweaty and flustered.” 

“I-I can’t find Max. S-s-he’s gone.” 

“Maeve I think you’re going through some trauma because of Casey but Max is probably somewhere with Clementine.”

“Did someone say my name?” Clementine chirped and came up to them.

“Have you seen Max?” Audrey asked.

“No...not recently now that you mention it. I heard Maeve yelling her name and something about Chai. I know she was really, really, really stoned. Why? What’s wrong?” her brown eyes lit up, as much as they could in her current state of mind, if anyone loved gossip it was Clementine.

“I can’t find her. I thought she might’ve been with you.”

“Nope!” Clementine smiled like nothing was going wrong. “Good luck finding her!” and with another flip of her braids she sauntered off blowing smoke out behind her.

“Hey, did you ever tell Max what I told you?” Chai stubbed out a cigarette and lit up another.

“Max is gone. She disappeared just like Casey. No explanation, no evidence left behind. Nothing!” Maeve began to pace anxiously pivoting on her heel. Chai shrugged, gave her a look, as though she didn't care, turned around and strutted away still smoking her cigarette. 

“We’ll find her Maeve.’ Audrey put her hand on the small of Maeve’s back.

“I’ve got a feeling about this.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey seeks refuge in a vintage shop, meets with a Giver guard, witnesses the brainwashing of a population, and the blowing up of a convenience store.

London, England Alternate-1947 

Casey had ended up returning to the strange vintage shop. The need to sleep had overwhelmed her ever-present hunger. Rolling over with a start when the sun woke her up she opened her eyes slowly. Her back and neck ached, but that was nothing compared to her stomach ache.

“Right. I need to get money.” Sighing loudly she looked through some old bags finding a good amount of pounds. “This should suffice.” She said aloud tuking as much of the money into her pockets. 

Casey left the shop looking both ways just as she started walking she bumped into someone sturdy and hard.

“Oh sorry mist-” Casey gasped looking up into the grey eyes of a man with the Nazi swastika on the front of his jacket, hat and wrists. Why are there Nazis in London? She thought urgently.

“Identification.” The man stated gruffly.

“S-s-sorry?”

“Show me your identification. Don’t make me ask again.” He held out a large hand wiggling his fingers in a ‘give it here’ motion. 

“I l-left it inside. M-m-may I go get it?”

“You’re lucky you’re pretty. I’ll give you thirty seconds. No more no less. If you don’t have it in my hand by then, you’re headed to the camps I don’t care what religion you are.”

Casey nodded slowly going back into the shop. Now where would someone keep their identification. She began looking around the spot where she had found the money. 

Casey also took the opportunity to check the time on an old grandfather clock. It read that it was just after 11:57 in the evening. The seconds hand was not moving.

Casey dug around a bag and pulled out a booklet. The picture was a girl, it was so grainy that it could pass for anyone. The girl’s name was Finley Clark. 

Casey ran out of the store as fast as possible and dropped the identification into the apparent Nazi’s hand.

“Finley Clark hm? Ms Clark, why aren’t you living in a designated apartment. It says here that you are a natural born citizen of the United Kingdom. Everyone born here gets an apartment.”

Casey thought quickly remembering something look-alike Maeve had said about a curfew. 

“It-it was passed curfew last night. I was oh so tired. Please have pity on me I was so hungry and so so tired I needed to sleep.”

A rumble of thunder filled her ears and a flash of lighting reflected off of the Nazis’ eyes. The man smiled a robotic smile. He lit up a cigarette, taking a long drag.

“Fine. I believe you little girl. But I swear on the name and life of Karl Hitler if you are lying you will be dead before you can even testify for your whereabouts.”

Who the ever sodding hell is Karl Hitler? She thought.

“Y-you mean Adolf Hitler sir?”

“No girl, Adolf Hitler was Karl’s father. Have you been living under a rock? We are the Givers. We rule everything.”

“Please forgive me, it slipped my mind. I am very tired after all.” The ’Giver’ regarded her suspiciously, he handed her ‘identification’ back and with a stiff spin on his heel he marched off. 

Casey turned around and tucked the ‘identification’ into her pocket. She walked briskly passing the shop once more. It didn’t seem to have a name posted, so Casey decided to remember it as simply ‘the Vintage Shop.’ 

Carefully, she jogged down the cobblestone street. It was absolutely deserted. A shrill blare overcame her ears suddenly. Upon walking onto a main street she ducked into a small cafe, a crowd was gathered watching something on the TV. 

Casey stood back by a refrigerator only carrying Coca-Cola and water. She turned to watch the TV when suddenly she heard the snapping of fingers and a sharp voice.

“What would you like to drink girl? You’re holding up my line.” An old Scottish man barked out at her from behind the counter.

“T-there’s no line..” She looked behind her and around, the man simply blinked and glared. “You know what I’ll take a hot chocolate please.” The man grunted something under his breath as Casey payed him. 

The man handed her the drink a minute later. Casey closed her eyes as she took a sip, sweet chocolate overcame her senses. The crowd began to whisper, presumably about what was on the TV, except it was really that everyone was checking their matching watches. 

Casey pretended to check her own watch, looking at her wrist. She snuck a glance at someone else’s watch and saw that it was 11:58. Ok, this is just getting weirder and weirder. Just a minute hasn’t past since I’ve been here. Casey also noticed that everyone was dressed in the same clothes as her. 

The patrons were transfixed with the TV screen. It flashed what appeared to be propaganda, Nazi and others. Casey attempted to move away from it and leave the shop, but found that she too had her eyes glued to the screen and couldn’t look away. 

Pictures of families hugging and looking genuinely happy flashed across the screen, a child running through a pretty field flashed. Wait a minute, Casey thought the images are in color and it’s supposed to be 1947? Nothing made sense and Casey found herself slowly believing what was being shown.

“The Givers have been around since the dawn of time representing Karl Hitler and providing for his people. The world has become a better place because of us. We are your friends. We are your guardians. We are your saviors. Without us, the human race would perish and planet Earth would cease to exist.”

Suddenly, the propaganda film was over and everyone snapped out of the trance they had been in previously. The people began to slowly file out, some remaining to buy drinks and other things. 

Casey held the remainder of her hot chocolate with two hands and left the shop. Pieces of paper with Karl Hitler’s chubby, pasty face plastered on them blew by. Trash was scattered all over, the sky was desolate and as cloudy as it could possibly be. 

She walked roughly half a block away from the shop, when a loud ‘boom’ rang through the area. It appeared as though a bomb had gone off. Chaos ensued, there were screams as people ran out and away.

Casey spotted ‘Jerry’ from earlier, who had almost shot her with his gun. Gawking at the scene, he shoved by her so hard she stumbled a bit. Dropping the small remainder of her hot chocolate, Casey ran as fast as she could towards the chaos. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” the red haired Maeve look-alike shouted at Casey.

“I want to help!” Casey yelled back.

“Get out of here! There’s nothing you can do. Go back to the shop!”

Casey nodded took one last look and willed herself to turn away. She sprinted down the street as fast as her legs would carry her until she reached the shop.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max wakes up in the totalitarian "States of America," interacts with the 'Giver' guards, and befriends new people.

Washington DC, The States of America Alternate-2017

A hum filled Max’s ears. She groaned, her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper and tasted like pennies. Max’s eyelids felt heavy as though they were glued to her eyes. Suddenly, she turned to the side and began to vomit.

“Wh-Where am I?” she rasped to herself. She attempted to move around finding her mobility in her legs first. Finally, after flexing and rolling all of her limbs Max slowly opened her eyes.

Max was laying on what looked to be a sidewalk. Something crumpled was resting in her hand, clenched in a fist. She opened a piece of paper simply bearing the phrases: “We are Rosewell. Fix this place before it is too late. There will be severe consequences if you do not.”

“What the bloody fuck is ‘Rosewell'? And what am I doing in the bloody United States of America?”

Max tucked the paper in her pants pocket and looked up at the sky, it was grey. It was an unnatural grey, not the kind of grey the sky turns before it rains. Slowly rising up from the ground, Max turned around and gasped. Behind her was a giant, golden mansion surrounded by a black fence that buzzed with electricity.

In front of the fence there was a sign that read ‘WARNING: THE SURGEON GENERAL ADVISES ALL CITIZENS OF THE STATES AMERICA TO WEAR A GOVERNMENT ISSUED MASK AT ALL TIMES WHEN OUTDOORS. IF THIS PROVISION IS NOT FOLLOWED SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE EXTREME DROWSINESS, DEHYDRATION, LUNG CANCER, SKIN CANCER, OTHER UNTREATABLE ILLNESSES OR EVEN DEATH. IF ANY OF THESE MALADIES HAPPEN THE GOVERNMENT AND ‘PRESIDENT’ COVFEFE (INFORMALLY KNOWN AS THE TWITTER GOD) WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE’

“Well am I in luck for being a ‘non-citizen. I must really have been stoned if the President’s name is Covfefe,’” Max muttered sarcastically, getting up off the ground and walking down the street away from the hideous Golden House. 

She barely had gotten to the end of the street when she was stopped by a burly secret service guard who heavily resembled Bear.

“Who are you?” the guard asked, he wore what looked like a gas mask. She almost expected him to say ‘Are you my mummy?’

“Sorry?”

“I said ‘who are you?’ Why are you on the private property of President Covfefe?” 

Max squeezed her eyes shut, she didn’t know very much about American politics except for what she watched occasionally on the news, but she knew that the White House (or the now Golden House?) was property that usually could be seen by the public. She also knew that the President's name was not Covfefe nor were they a male. 

“I don’t know honestly. I just....woke up here. I am a citizen of the United Kingdom.”

“You are crazy girl. The United Kingdom has been destroyed. The States of America are the only country still in relative power. We are the Givers. We rule everyone. Our Twitter Lord and Savior sold the states over to the Givers.” 

The way the guard talked was throwing Max off slightly ‘what are The Givers?' she thought. He sounded and moved like a robot.

“Ok then. Can you tell me where I can stay for now? I’m sorry that I ended up on the President’s property. It won’t happen again.”

The guard nodded.

“Go straight, left, right, left, left, right and turn around the corner, you will end up at the new persons...area.’” A wicked smirk spread across the guard's’ face like the plague as he explained this to her. 

Max felt nauseous, she trembled a bit. I miss Casey, Maeve and even Chai ever so slightly right now.

“W-well I’ll be off. Thanks for the help.”

When Max turned around, the guard was gone, as if he had never been there in the first place. She shivered and began to walk, repeating the directions in her head over and over again. 

Finally, she reached a worn down brick apartment building that looked as though it hadn’t been touched or re-done since the twentieth century. 

There was a lineup of people inside a gated fence, some were screaming, some were coughing, others were sobbing. Many grabbed at the barbed wire and hissed at her as she walked by. Someone spit at her when she reached the front.

At the front of the line there was another guard who looked identical to the one earlier. Now, Max was convinced the guards were robotic clones. 

It was hard to suppress a shiver that ran down her spine, this was the kind of thing one only saw on creepy dystopian TV shows.

“Who are you?” the guard barked.

“My name is Miranda. Despite what I’ve been told I am a natural born citizen of the United Kingdom.”

The guard noted something on a small pad of paper and began to roar with laughter, it was awful he too was wearing a gas mask.

“You are crazy girl. The United Kingdom has been destroyed. The States of America are the only country still in relative power. We rule everyone.” 

“That’s...That’s exactly what-” Max took a deep breath to regain composure. “You know what never mind. Can you just tell me where I can stay? Maybe where I could get some citizenship papers.”

“You can stay in one of the apartments in there. If you can find a place that is. We will hold a proceeding for you tomorrow to deal with whether or not you stay with the rest of this scum.” The guard gestured to the people behind the wire. “Or go to work for President Covfefe, bless his soul and very existence.” He waved his hand at her. “Now off with you!” 

Max jumped at his tone of voice and quickly scattered away nearly tripping over her own feet in the process. 

When she got inside the building she slowly crept up the creaky stairs. There was a strong draft from the outside, a chill overcame her bones and her teeth began to chatter loudly.

“What is that bloody awful noise?” what sounded like a woman’s London accent called out. Max peaked into a room to find a young woman sitting in an old worn down arms with a high almond brown ponytail hanging over the back. A cigarette dangled limply from her fingers and she stroked a small, fluffy cat sitting beside her. It meowed when Max walked in hesitantly. 'Well fuck me over twice slowly and painfully, she looks just like Chai.' There was a fire going in front of the armchairs, Max shivered again and looked around.

“I’m Mir-Max. I-I’m from the United Kingdom.”

The woman laughed. “My name is Mabel.” She sat up and extended her hand which Max took. Mabel pointed at the cat. “This is Ted Jones he’s having a slight identity crisis at the moment.” She handed Max a cigarette and lit it for her with a match. “Now do me a favor and don’t go around saying that you’re from the United Kingdom. It doesn’t exist anymore.”

“I know, I’ve been told. I didn’t come here willingly, I just woke up some time ago and I was here. My sister went missing when I was back ‘home’ I really wish to find her.”

The smile fell off of Mabel’s face. “Rufus! Get your bloody arse in here!”

“Mabes, I really don’t feel like fucking hon’ I’m tired and worn out!” Another London accent called back.

“Well that’s a first.” Mabel muttered. “No, I think we have something important here!” The man named Rufus burst into the room, he resembled Jordan almost identically. He gave Max a once over and smoothed his dark brown hair back.

“I’m Rufus, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He shook Max’s hand enthusiastically and handed her a gas mask. “You’re going to need this when you go out tomorrow. Now where did you say you were from?”

“I’m Max, and the United Kingdom.” Max replied softly. 

Rufus gasped and shared a look with Mabel who simply raised her eyebrows and took a last drag from her cigarette. 

“Are-are you affiliated with Roswell?” he asked so quietly that Max had to lean in to hear him. Max didn’t respond and pulled out the crumpled note from her pocket and handed it to him.

“I-I don’t know what the bloody hell ‘Roswell’ is so, maybe one of you could explain it to me.”

“Truthfully, it’s whatever you want to believe it is.” Mabel shook her head in disbelief, Rufus gave her a look. “Essentially everything here is what or who you want to believe it is. Even us.”

“Don’t give her that bullshit excuse. It’s essentially a top secret mission of sorts. Cept’ those part of it aren’t from planet earth. They want to help save the planet so they abduct people and that’s why you, Rufus, Ted Jones, and I all ended up in this dumpy alternate dimension. We’ve all been brainwashed to see what we want to see.”

Max nodded slowly, she wasn’t going to let any explanation go over her head given all she had seen so far. She understood now why Mabel resembled Chai so closely. 

“Is that why everyone resembles people I know?”

“Now that we can’t say dear, whatever they gave you when you were abducted affects everyone differently. The guards with the gas masks are called ‘The Givers.’ They provide us with this house, clothes, and food. The basic necessities. There’s rules but those are for tomorrow. Now your sister most likely ended up in another dimension if she went missing before you.” Rufus said. “Is she your twin?”

“Yes, her name is Casey.” She pulled out her phone and showed a recent picture from the ballet. “We’re extremely fraternal...don’t look anything alike,” Rufus and Mabel both nodded.

“The only thing to do is to try to communicate with her through the news hopefully she’ll meet some people from Jarvis who can help her.”

“Well...What are we to do now?” Max sat down on the other side of Mabel and pet Ted Jones’ fur, he licked her hand, purred and put his head down on her lap.

“Tomorrow, you’re going to have a ‘hearing’ of sorts. Just tell them that you’re from the United Kingdom and you should end up back here. If not we’ll figure out something, you’re one of us now.” Mabel smiled, Max felt her heart leap in her chest at how much it resembled Chai’s smile, she seized her chance.

“Has...has anyone told you that you’re really bloody beautiful.”

“That’s sweet doll, now go to sleep. You have much to deal with tomorrow.” Mabel pulled Max to her chest and covered them in a thin blanket. 

Max may have been cold on the outside, but her heart fluttered with warmth.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey meets new friends, the group comes up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just realized that I've been spelling Roswell wrong this entire time and I don't feel like correcting it at the moment so I apologize for 'Roswell' being spelled "Rosewell."

London, England Alternate-1947

By the time Casey reached the shop, she was wheezing and sweating. Casey could dance but, by all means for the life of her, could not run. She bent over, her stomach ached from the milk in the hot chocolate. 

Casey had barricaded the door with chairs stacked one on top of another. Abruptly, the door knob began to rattle and shake. Armed with a stool in front of her stomach she called out; “Who is it?” and walked by the door. 

“Just let me in ok?!’ a familiar voice exclaimed. 

“Give me a minute?” Casey struggled with moving the barricade away, the door also was slightly jammed and very heavy. 

“I really-” the intruder grunted and pushed against the door “don’t exactly have one!” Just as the intruder said that, Casey managed to yank the door open. 

The ‘intruder,’ who was really look-alike Maeve and a boy trailing behind, flew into the room and she quickly slammed the door behind her.

“I’m sorry about that but the Givers were trying to ‘control’ that explosion out there, which is really just grabbing anyone they see near the scene and arresting them for being associated with it.”

Casey squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath.

“Can you tell me what is going on now?”

The red-haired girl didn’t move from her place by the door, the boy that had fallen in behind her walked around.

“James? Can you do introductions? I have to keep watch. If they find us here they’ll sentence all of us to a life of hard labor.”

A boy with sandy brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and muscular arms smiled and waved shyly. 

“I’m James and that’s Lucy. We’re not originally from here..from this-this world. They took us a few years ago. The memory of your old life starts to go after a while. Whatever fragments you do happen to remember morph into what you want to see.”

“My name is Casey. I’m not from this ‘world’ either. I’m from London, England in 2017. Do you know how I can get back?”

James and Lucy shared a worried glance.

“Casey,” Lucy started, she began to pace by the door, avoiding eye contact completely. “Did you wake up with any sort of document or paper on you?”

“No..not that I can recall. Was I supposed to have one?”

James and Lucy both had a distant look in their eyes.

“Someone must’ve stolen it from you. Essentially, most of the people here woke up with a mission to save the Earth. It was signed by this group called ‘Rosewell,’” James explained. 

Casey shook her head in disbelief. “If what you’re saying is true, then what are you missions?”

Lucy pulled James by the shoulder and they began to whisper. Casey caught the tail end of what Lucy said; “She doesn’t have a mission so she’s going to have to come with us.”

“Then why is she here? She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t have a mission?” The duo looked at Casey, she decided to speak up.

“I have a twin. We’re very close, but fraternal. Perhaps, because we’re twins one of us accidentally got taken?”

“I’ve heard of it happening. You see Rosewell doesn’t take based off of looks but off of blood types. It’s likely that they took you first and your sister later.”

Casey nodded. “Well I’m going to have to find a way to communicate with her.”

James looked concerned. “It’s not impossible, but it is awfully dangerous.”

“What do I have to do? I’ll do anything I just want to see my sister.” Casey felt helpless as James and Lucy both paled sheet white. 

“Y-you’re going to have to find a way into the News Department and start spreading Fake News. When that happens enough, James and I know some folks who can hack the central communications system. They can send a message to the other world. When this happens though it has to be fast and can only happen once.”

Casey took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said, “let’s do this.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max undergoes a physical change and gets ready for her court ruled work assignment. Mabel and Rufus reveal what she has to do to save the world.

Washington D.C., The States of America Alternate 2017

Max was awake before the sun was up the next morning, all alone. First thing, she located a scrap of paper and something that resembled a pencil to make a list.

“I meant to tell you last night, you might to start to forget things. Especially since you don’t have a gas mask yet. They release the gas to brainwash everyone at the top of each hour.” Mabel had explained.

Things to Remember __  
-Chai will never ever in a trillion years love you.  
-Casey is your wonderful twin sister.  
-Evan and Terry are going to get married.  
-You are from the United Kingdom  
-The President of the United States is Cecile Clairmont  
-The 13th Doctor is going to be a woman. :)  
-This is all just a bad dream  
-Don’t forget. :( 

Rufus walked in moments later, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Was’ that?”

“It’s a list, so I ‘don’t forget.’” Max replied attempting to finger comb her matted hair. 

Rufus did a small, dramatic jump in place and snapped his fingers at her. “Now that is a smart idea.”

Max was slightly confused by his mannerisms, when Mabel walked in.

“It’s a very smart idea Rufus dear.” She gave him a kiss on the head. “Now give me the list so you don’t lose it. Everyday and every night you have to look at it. Don’t forget.”

“That’s my new catchphrase now huh? ‘Don’t Forget.’”

Rufus scoffed,“sounds like something from a science-fiction movie.”

Max gaped at him slightly, “this whole world or whatever this is, is like a science fiction movie.” She waved her hands around to emphasize her exasperation. 

“Forget about all of it. We have to make you look presentable, The Givers are coming. They are going to assign you to work somewhere. If you are undesirable you get hard labor, if you are desirable you are a maid for President Covfefe. However, I am so sorry, but he doesn’t like alien hair colors. He prefers blondes, except I got assigned in the early days to one of his advisors” 

Max pulled on her blue/grey hair, watching as a shiver visibly ran through Mabel, Rufus rubbed her back. “He’s the devil if I ever seen one. Not quite worse than Covfefe but very close,” she whispered. 

Max began to panic at the thought of hard labor, anything was better than being in dirt with other angry people. Mabel walked towards the back of the room and dug around a wooden box, pulling out what she was looking for she smiled.

“Lucky for you, I have just the thing. Bleach for hair. Totally illegal but they’ll never know if you tell them it was the gas.”

“I-I’m going to look just like my sister. Plus why do I have to dress up as a maid if I don’t know what my job is going to be?”

“It’s for your safety darling, you have to remind yourself that. The judge and The Givers will be more willing to give you the job if you look the part in dress. I’ll do it later on to my hair if it helps. I could use the bump over to being Covfefe’s maid.”

Max nodded in thanks, Mabel gave her shoulders a squeeze. ‘At least she won’t look so much like Chai,’ she thought. A wave of sadness and nausea overcame Max as she felt herself being pushed gently towards a ‘bathroom.’ 

She could remember Chai so clearly at that moment that her heart ached. 

She remembered Chai’s favourite pair of scuffed up black boots that she always wore. 

She remembered how Chai liked to wear her hair sometimes in two messy braids, and how she felt jealous that she couldn’t ever pull it off with her own hair. 

She remembered that Chai wouldn’t ever love her as more than a friend.

She realized that it was ok.

Max deserved better.

Mabel guided her into an old chair in the small kitchen and tilted her head back over the sink, Rufus sat near by and watched.

“I’m sorry about the lack of stuff. Majority of things are illegal. Whatever was on us when we were abducted is here. I was working hair and makeup at a fashion show and Rufus was working in the kitchen at a fancy restaurant. Sometimes The Gvers allow us a decent amount food and fairly clean water,” Mabel shrugged. 

Max closed her eyes as Mabel worked her magic, fingers running through her hair relaxed her enough to think about happy memories with Casey.

“Okay darling, I think that does it.” Max jolted up with a start.

“I didn’t even realize I fell asleep. I dreamt about Casey.”

Mabel and Rufus both smiled. “Go take a look in the mirror.”

Max’s hair was slightly damp, but a pretty bleach blonde.

“I must’ve been out for longer than I thought.”

“We were awake at 3:30, work starts at six. That’s when The Givers will come” He glanced at an old clock on the wall which read 5:30.

“Get her ready. They will be here soon.”

Mabel dug through the box again and threw out a skimpy French maid’s outfit.

“I have to wear that?!”

“You have to look the part, it doesn’t matter to Covfefe if you can act the part. He’ll fuck anything that has tits, an arse, and a personality that can be topped by a pile of rocks.”

Max, took the outfit and changed quickly. When she came out, Mabel fixed her tired skin with some makeup and tamed out her hair, curling the ends with a round brush. 

“Don’t forget, the rules are Covfefes, but The Givers are here to execute everything. The only way to get rid of The Givers is to kill Covfefe.” Mabel nodded in agreement.

Max’s eyes widened so much she swore she could feel them bulging. “Rufus, I can’t just go in there and murder someone,” she said quietly between gritted teeth.

Mabel cupped her face with both of her hands, they were very soft and smelled like shampoo. “Max, you’re the only one who received explicit details in their mission to save everyone. We all only got basic details on how to survive, on what to do or not to do.”

A sharp knock on the ‘door’ which Max swore wasn’t there when she first arrived, snapped the trio out of an impending argument. Rufus silently gave Max her gas mask and Mabel dropped her hands, pushing Max gently towards the door. 

When Rufus opened the door, three of The Givers stood with their monstrous gas masks.

“We are looking for Miranda. Give us Miranda or you will be killed. Mercy is not shown under President Covfefe’s presidency.”

“I-I’m Miranda.” The guards all turned at the same time, robotic in their movements, and looked at her.

“Come with us. You will be assigned to work today.”

Max managed to turn around and catch Mabel’s eye one last time before she was led out of the apartment, uncertain of her fate.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and James tell Casey what she needs to do to make contact with Max.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Sorry for slacking, been kinda busy with school and also was struggling with writer's block. Hopefully after this next chapter or so the updates will come more frequently as the story wraps up. Thanks for reading! Love you all xx- Em

London, England Alternate-1947

The following morning Casey, James and Lucy left the vintage shop and walked back down the cobblestone path to the convenience store, yet it was no longer a store but rather a large pile of rubble.

“Why do we have to go back?”

‘They play the news here everyday,” James explained. He lowered his voice and leaned close to Casey’s ear. “It’s propaganda, everything in the videos they show is to brainwash us. If you deny it, or refuse to watch it they’ll execute you.’

“How did you manage to get out of the ‘spell’ they put you under, per-se?”

“They implanted us in the arm with a tiny chip hooked up to feed us information. Well one day mine was acting weird, the news wasn’t coming on through my head. It-It was all just black. We told someone about this and they told us about the chip. So I had James cut the back of my neck because I could feel it throbbing and we found what we were looking for,” said Lucy, her red hair was tied back in two perfect french braids. 

It reminded Casey of her friend Clementine who wore her hair the same way.

Casey touched the back of her neck.

“Why was I able to see the news? I couldn’t look away!”

“You’re one of the few people without a chip. I think because when you got sent by Rosewell you ended up so far away from the main city that they didn’t even account for your presence. The news brainwashes everyone, even those without the chips, but the people with the chips are forced to believe it. The people without the chips, while still being fed propaganda, can question their reality which, of course, The Givers don’t want.”

“I’m assuming it’s a good thing...that I don’t have a chip,” Casey said looking down and around at the rubble. Lucy suddenly, walked around James and pushed her mouth shut.

“Stop gawking, you’ll attract flies and look suspicious.”

“They can’t know that you don’t have a chip remember?” James interjected, making a cut-throat gesture with his hand. 

Casey was becoming irritated, she didn’t understand the point of all that they were doing, which was nothing, she found it pointless and only wanted to see Max again.

“Listen,” she touched Lucy lightly on the shoulder, “I only want to go home and see my sister again. I’ll do anything it takes. I think you both know that.”

Lucy neither turned around nor did she respond, she simply continued to speed walk around the rubble and to a more secluded area of the street.

Casey, whose legs were sore from the lack of exercise and stretching that had accumulated over the past few days, stayed back with James.

“What-”

“Hush, she’s thinking and coming up with a plan.”

“How did you know that?”

“We’re married dear,” James responded.

‘Shit, it’s still 1947,’ Casey reminded herself.

“Wait a minute,” Casey stopped suddenly. “Didn’t you come from the same place as me?”

“We did, we were abducted by Roswell just like you. In the real world we were together and married.” James continued to walk.

“Aren’t you both a little young to be married?” Casey questioned.

“Lucy is twenty-five, and I’m twenty-seven,’ James replied. 

Casey stopped once again closed her eyes and shook her head. “How long have you been here?”

“In places such as this, time is a irrelevance. This is an alternate dimension, time passes quicker here than it does in our dimension, or in your sisters’” Lucy answered.

Casey could feel the cusps of a migraine forming in her temples, she was tired of asking questions and decided to hold her tongue for a while.

When they arrived by the rubble Lucy stared for a moment announcing that “there’s nothing we can do here, but I have a plan.” Casey and James looked at each other and shrugged, before they all had to practically sprint to keep up with Lucy. She took them down an alley near ‘Wrigley’s’ on the Piccadilly Circus.

Lucy and James pressed themselves against the damp brick wall so as to not be spotted, Casey followed suit. Lucy looked around to make sure they were in the nearest situation to “nobody watching” as humanly possible.

When the coast was “clear” Lucy handed Casey a crumpled paper, worn from being fiddled with, warm from being inside a coat pocket for far too long.

“We don’t have much time so you’re going to have to listen to me. Don’t ask me any questions until we are walking.” 

Casey nodded nervously reaching out to take the paper, Lucy held it back and handed it to James.

“You don’t get this until we finish explaining what’s going to happen ok?” James said seriously. His nose was beginning to turn red from the cold. Casey had stopped feeling the cold long ago when it penetrated down to her bones. 

“You’re going to go to the Telecommunications and News building. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there aren’t very many cars anymore. We’re going to walk you to the building. It's shaped like a dome, made out of one way glass, they can see you but you can’t see them” Lucy explained.

“You are going to take this card and scan it when you walk in. Don’t make eye contact with anyone. Move briskly, keep your head up. Remember, you’re on a mission plain and simple,” James continued.

“On the second floor there is a top secret room that’s where the media and news flows out of. Now when you go in you’re going to sit at cubicle 8, put on the headphones right away. Now listen to me when I say this, ignore what the headphones tell you, it’s all fake news. Don’t believe a word of it.”

“How do I do that?”

“You don’t have a chip, but that doesn’t mean some of the news won’t affect you. Resist it and think of your sister. Remember who you are.”

“Easier said than done.” Casey muttered bitterly.

The duo glared at her.

“You’re the one who wants to get home. You can remember who you are. I don’t even remember a majority of my life before coming here, it was too late for us by the time we got the chips out.” Lucy said solemnly.  
Casey took a deep breath and closed her eyes, “Alright I’ll do it. But only to get back to Max.”

James nodded and continued to explain her entry process. “There are four wires connected to the headphones: red, blue, green and purple. Take the purple and connect it to the green and the red and connect it to the blue. This will stop the flow of news from only your cubicle. We don’t know where your sister is, but she’s probably in some world similar. You can only hope she’s by a TV.

“There will be a camera above the wires, it’s a little black dot they use it for Public Service Announcements. Tap the red button next to it and try to wave at the screen and say ‘test one two, test.’ Read the PSA at your cubicle emphasize any words you think your sister might be able to pick up on. Do anything you can but don’t draw attention to yourself.” James handed Casey her ID card, funnily enough it had the same name and photo as her fake identification papers ‘Finley Clark.’

“‘This above all, to thine own self be true.’” Lucy quoted. Casey let out a shaky laugh.

“Should I even ask what happened to the Globe theatre?”

“Burned to ashes in a riot. Don’t worry about that now Casey, you know what you need to do.”

“Thank you both for your help.” She smiled watterly and hugged them.

“Now let’s go before it’s too late.” Lucy put her hand on the small of Casey’s back and guided her back toward the street. Deep down in her heart Casey had a feeling that it already was. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has her first encounter with President Covfefe and learns of her fate.

Washington D.C., The States of America Parallel 2017

Max couldn’t move. Two Givers held her arms tightly pinned, one on each side. They walked robotically to the point where it was hard for Max to keep pace with them, she continually tripped over her own feet.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, attempting once again to, at the very least, loosen their death defying grip on her arms, though she received no response she already had an idea of where they were taking her. 

Max wiggled a bit in their grip but relented when they held onto her tighter than she thought humanly possible. 

There were no people on the streets. The wind howled eerily and the front pages’ of black and white newspapers describing either how nice The States of America were or the scandals of President Covfefe blew around. 

A headline caught her eye: PRESIDENT COVFEFE REACHES A NEW RECORD: SEXUALLY ASSAULTED 80 WOMEN, DNA EVIDENCE IS MYSTERIOUSLY DESTROYED, DENIES ALLEGATIONS, SAYS GOD’S WILL TOLD HIM TO DO IT. Max shuddered, feeling bile in her throat as the Givers pulled her along. 

Max couldn’t recall the last time she had seen the sun given how much rain there had been in London of late. The sky was bleak, a color uglier, murkier and darker than grey. She shivered in her thin ‘uniform.’ 

Finally they arrived at a small brown building, the Givers pushed Max inside and she wrapped her arms around herself. It was colder in the ‘courthouse’ than outside. Everything was made of marble, radiating cold two glimmering, gold pillars shined duly inside the room. 

Max immediately noticed that she was the only citizen there amongst many other Givers. A chair, that had to be the most monstrous, enormous chair that she had ever seen sat behind a golden platform at the front of the room. The words “Our Twitter Lord and Savior Covfefe” were scribed on a marble placard in perfectly placed, precisive gold cursive. 

A golden carpet was rolled down the middle and the benches were all made out of marble. The Givers dragged Max down the gold carpet and shoved her onto the freezing cold, rock hard bench at the front. 

“President Covfefe will be here in a moment to judge your fate.” One of the Givers said. 

“Can I at least walk around? Stretch my legs maybe?”  
The Giver nodded at her gruffly. “Just know that we’ll be watching you the entire time.” Even though she couldn’t see his face Max could feel the Giver’s eyes boring into her. 

Max went over slightly to the TV’s at the front of the room hooked up to the marble pillars all around, she thought it was unusual that they were even there. Walking to look up at it slowly she did a double take. A woman who looked exactly like her graced the screen mouthing something incoherently. 

Max’s ears began to ring, her vision blurred slightly, she shut her eyes to alleviate it, Mabel’s voice echoed through her head ‘don’t forget.’ 

With a start her eyes snapped open, she could hear the loud thumping of her heart in her ears. 

“Casey?”

“Ok, time’s up!” One of the Giver’s came over and dragged Max abruptly from her spot looking up longingly a the TV. However, Max’s gaze was transfixed on what she saw on the screen, she planted her feet firmly in the ground gritting her teeth in anger and pain and her arms got yanked and pulled so hard she thought they were going to get ripped out of their sockets. 

The Givers managed to overthrow her center of balance and the moment The Giver let go of her arm she flew back falling roughly to the cold marble floor. As Max began to scramble back, The Giver walked forward in a demeaning and threatening manner. He kicked Max sorely in her ribs to move her to the side as a golden carpet that reeked of iron and gasoline was rolled down the aisle in the courthouse. 

Max wheezed slightly in pain as triumphant trumpet music began to play.

“Please rise and welcome our Twitter Lord and Savior: President Covfefe.” 

Laying on the floor, Max attempted to turn her body towards the golden carpet, wincing in pain; at the last minute she saw him.

Large was a compliment to what this man, this thing was. He was orange, as orange as any fruit she had ever eaten maybe even more so. Corpulent he was, with his stomach stretching out his unevenly buttoned cotton shirt up, his suit jacket was left open, a bland grey tie lied too long floppily against his body. 

Covfefe was carried down the gold carpet by the Givers in one chair and placed in the other gold chair at the front of the room by the podium. He was given a black robe over his shoulders by a woman in an outfit identical to Max’s, a gavel that made a squeaky noise when he hit it against the podium, and a red button. 

While it was already concerning why a grown man couldn’t handle an actual gavel, what concerned Max even more was the red button. 

Caught in a daze she felt her arms being yanked up and her hair being pulled. Stumbling up to her feet she was shoved towards Covfefe. Max tasted blood on the side of her mouth, her chin was dripping with it slightly. 

When Max looked up at the podium the image of Covfefe’s beady, little eyes covered with white powder underneath would forever be etched into her mind. He licked his slimy, chapped lips slowly and popped ten white TIc Tacs into his mouth filled with surprisingly straight white teeth, Max wanted to throw up, a mental image of Jabba the Hutt flashed through her mind. 

Perhaps she could strangle him and this whole nightmare would be over.

“Ooh the legs on this one!” his face twisted into the most lecherous, carnal grin. “Where’d you find her?” Covfefe chuckled half heartedly giving Max a once over, eyes ogling at her chest and lingering there for far too long. Max struggled in the Givers grips on her arms but they did not relent and it seemed that their grips got tighter. 

“Sir.” A Giver that seemingly appeared out of nowhere from behind Max, kneeled in front of Covfefe’s podium. He waited a robotic moment before continuing with his speech.

“This thing claims to be from the United Kingdom which simply cannot be true because the United Kingdom was destroyed in the war and sent all of its remaining citizens over.”

“Well, she certainly is delectable, she’ll make a nice toy won’t she.” Somehow, Covfefe got up out of his massive throne and prowled around her. The Givers, to her slight relief, released her arms. 

Covfefe walked up to her, she could smell hamburger and Diet Coke on his hot, steamy breath, he took his grubby fingers and slipped them through the blood on her face. Max almost wished the Givers were holding her arms down instead.

Fighting the urge to gag and throw up, she stepped back.

“This one is a fighter isn’t she? I’ll have to keep a good eye on her.” Covfefe walked away and the Givers grabbed her arms again.

“Take her away!” Covfefe shouted knocking his golden gavel against the golden block.

“Please,” Max began to beg as the Givers dragged her away. “Have some compassion, I just want to see my sister.”  
There was no response from the monstrous, orange man, he was as aloof as she had ever seen someone be sitting at his pathetic gold podium. 

The Givers half dragged, half pulled her to the old condominiums. Max only thought about Casey saying everything and nothing, for she didn’t hear it at all. 

Max was thrown into the apartment she landed on her stomach with a ‘thump,’ her mouth was warm with the metallic taste of blood. 

Looking up through blurry eyes and gasping, both Mabel and Rufus were gone.


End file.
